For many years, the biggest problem facing college sports—specifically the high-revenue ones, football and basketball—was the uncomfortable reality of how much these schools were making off athletes who struggled to get by while in school. That all changed with the advent of NIL deals, allowing players to profit from their name, image, and likeness.
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These are essentially just legal bribes to get players to come to a school at this point. And, along with the wide-open transfer portal, NIL has created a completely new college sports landscape. One player who recently took full advantage of this was Tennessee Volunteers QB Nico Iamaleava. After an impressive 2024 campaign, he sought a boost in his NIL deal. However, Tennessee rebuffed his request.
Instead of returning to the team with his tail between his legs like would have happened in seasons past, Iamaleava simply entered the transfer portal, which no longer requires players to sit out a year, eliminating the incentive not to use it unless absolutely necessary.
In the end, Iamaleava landed at UCLA, where he will reportedly receive a smaller amount of NIL money than he would have at Tennessee. Even so, as CFB analyst Adam Breneman pointed out, NFL teams don’t mind the movement whatsoever.
“There’s been so much negativity about Nico Iamaleava transferring from Tennessee. But here’s the reality: NFL teams do not care that Nico transferred,” said Breneman.
“They don’t give a sh*t! That narrative is completely outdated. Scouts care more about how you adapt when you go through change and adversity in your career. Everyone has changed, everyone makes mistakes. How do you adapt to it?” he added.
Based on that logic, you could even argue that transferring might make you more attractive to prospective NFL teams because you’ve shown that ability to succeed even when circumstances are not ideal and you have to adapt.
Breneman also pointed out that transferring hasn’t affected QBs taken in the last two drafts, most notably 2025 No. 1 pick Cam Ward, who transferred twice in college.
“Four of the six quarterbacks taken in the first round last year were transfers. Cam Ward went to three schools. He was picked number one in the draft. That doesn’t happen if he stays at Washington State, let alone Incarnate Word, where he started his career. In last week’s draft, every top QB on the big board transferred schools at some point. … [NFL] teams know players are navigating a broken system in college.”
Breneman went on to share that Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead is of this same mind as well. Snead doesn’t speak for all GMs, but they’re probably not viewing things all too differently.
“Players who can bounce around and learn new systems and still play just as fast, that’s an added bonus for us,” said the Rams GM.
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Originally, Iamaleava signed for $8 million over three years in the first big wave of NIL deals. He was set to make $2.4 million in 2025, but apparently, he and his team wanted something closer to the $4 million Carson Beck and Darian Mensah got to transfer to Miami and Duke, respectively. However, Iamaleava’s team has denied that number.
Because of all the bad blood between Iamaleava and Tennessee, UCLA was likely able to swoop in and lowball Iamaleava after entering the transfer portal. While his new deal is apparently more than the $1.5 million reported figure, it’s definitely less than the $2.4 million he would have gotten in Knoxville.
The most important thing, however, is that NFL executives are starting to get it. They’re starting to understand that the college landscape will never be the same. They need to get used to this new type of recruit coming out of college with their own money, the freedom to decide their fate through the portal, and a less naive world-view.
